Mrs Jonas said: "They are in dire straits and we are just doing everything we can to get them home. She spent Saturday night sleeping under an escalator and they are just panicked and crying all the time.

"Mum told me the toilets are an absolute nightmare and the airport ran out of food on the land side.

"There has been violence outside and we are worried looters will make their way to the airport."

Despite the deepening crisis, some airlines were accused of profiteering, as passengers saw the cost of flights back to the UK soar over the weekend.

One desperate traveller trying to book a one way ticket back to Heathrow with British Airways reported being quoted a price of £1,500.

However a spokesman for BA insisted they had not changed their pricing policy and blamed third party vendors for inflating costs.

A spokesman said: "Tickets are selling at a normal price, we have made no changes to our fares policy."

The spokesman added: "We are trying to operate normally, but we have had to amend plane times to comply with the curfew.

"For this reason people should watch our website to get the latest information, especially as the situation is pretty volatile."

The UK carrier BMI said it would try to get several homeward bound flights away on Monday but these were subject to delay and cancellation and advised people to monitor their website.

However, with internet and mobile phone access restricted, many of those stranded were left with little choice than to head to the airport and hope for the best.

Questions were being asked about the Foreign Office's response to the crisis after several other countries including the United States, India and Turkey announced they were organising special flights for their nationals.

Some 30,000 Britons are thought to be in Egypt, the vast majority in the Red Sea resorts such as Sharm-el-Sheikh, which is so far unaffected by the protests.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was monitoring the situation closely, but said there were no plans to send in special flights to evacuate British nationals yet.

Mr Hague said that although flights were coming in and out of Cairo airport, there was lack of staff there which meant it was not functioning properly.

He said the welfare of British nationals was his top priority and that he had sent extra consular staff to the airport.

The British Ambassador to Egypt, Dominic Asquith, said: "There are a lot of challenges at the airport in Cairo. That's why we've got the team up there trying to help. There are flights going in and out but it is not orderly."